After seeming to not have much fun in the last couple of movies, Daniel Craig is done as James Bond. He is hanging up the clever gadgets and the license to kill and walking off into the sunset. This means a slew of actors are vying for their chance to only die twice.
A new name has now bubbled to the top of the Hollywood cauldron where directors, writers, and actors are all mixed together into interesting stews, then smeared across the silver screen in an effort to get the public to sit in dark rooms for two hours.
Prince Charles.
Not the real one, of course, a fake one. THE fake one, I guess. Josh O’Connor, who portrayed then Prince, now King, Charles in The Crown is seemingly tipped for a big reveal as the new 007.
The 34-year-old actor is the right age to take on the role and could manage an easy 15-year run of Bond movies were he to get the part. He also sits in just the right area of fame for a Bond film. Long-time producer Barbara Brocolli is fond of casting actors who have proven they have the chops and the charm but have yet to really stamp themselves into the public consciousness, and he would certainly fit that bill.
It also hints at a potential shift in the portrayal of Bond. Much the same way that Craig’s era ushered in a dash of gritty realism, the next Bond may be asked to put a new spin on the spy that is more appealing to audiences who are under assault from an array of superhero movies or spy movies where the main characters are dangerously close to superhuman (Sorry, Mr. Cruise).
The art of spycraft isn’t featured too much in spy movies these days, and while it wouldn’t make much sense to limit the fisticuffs or chase scenes that James Bond films are known for, a dash of the quiet tension of something like a Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy certainly wouldn’t hurt.
O’Connor recently enjoyed success alongside Zendaya and Mike Faist in Challengers and is frankly the first name in a while that has been connected to Bond that feels both plausible and hints that they might be aiming to do something that isn’t just Daniel Craig-lite.
Spy films feel like they are in a difficult place right now as the genre tries to figure out what they are trying to do. The last seismic shakeup the genre went through was The Bourne Identity in 2002 making a mockery of Die Another Day, which was released the same year. Daniel Craig would arrive to bring the grit to Bond four years later.
So, while O’Connor might not seem like the obvious next Bond, I find myself excited at the possibilities of what his casting might mean for the long-running series because a repeat of what the previous iterations of 007 brought to the table is definitely not what the audience is looking for.